OCZ Releases Premium MLC-Based Solid State Drives

OCZ Technology, a popular supplier of high-performance computer components, on Tuesday revealed its new Vertex lineup of solid-state drives (SSDs) that are based on multi-level cell flash, but offer rather unprecedented performance for this kind of devices. The new SSDs resemble flash-based drives from Samsung Electronics unveiled earlier this year.

OCZ Vertex series solid-state drives in 2.5” form-factor with 64MB cache are available in ample storage capacities of 30GB, 60GB, 120GB as well as 250GB and offer 200MB/s read speed and 160MB/s write speed. Earlier this year Samsung revealed its own-brand MLC-based SSDs with similar speeds and capacities, it is highly likely that the original manufacturer of OCZ-branded devices is indeed Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of memory.

It is interesting to note, however, that Samsung declared one million hours mean time between failures (MTBF) for its SSDs, whereas OCZ Technology claims 1.5 million hours MTBF, which is inline with high-quality hard disk drives.

“The new Vertex Series of SSD drives are a premium MLC based SSD solution that are designed for consumers that require fast, rugged, and reliable solid state storage. The Vertex makes use of our newest architecture and controller design complete with 64MB of cache to offer faster transfers and superior overall system response times in a broad range of applications and games,” commented Eugene Chang, director of product management for OCZ Technology Group.

Manufacturer suggested retail price of OCZ Vertex SSDs at the time of launch are $129, $249, $469, and $869 for 30GB, 60GB, 120GB and 250GB models respectively.